5 New Trends in Web Design Layouts

Web design is an ever-changing craft. Like fashion, it responds to modern tastes, and like product design, it has to be useful and make its target audience want to interact with it. So your degree in web design is only the beginning on your road to becoming successful.

Because web design has to meet all of these challenges, it has become fertile ground for creative designs. Still, there have been a few stand-out trends so far this year.

Minimalism

Minimalism is the trend that won’t quit. And why would it? The impact is undeniable. Minimalist sites don’t date the way other sites do – in fact, they often seem like they came from the future. They always look professional, without seeming too far out of reach. The message remains the focus, as viewers aren’t distracted by bells and whistles.

Tapmates started as a company that designed and built iPhone apps. Apple products are the absolute zenith of gorgeous, minimalist, futuristic design that feels very of-the-moment. That the app designers chose a similar feeling for their site is only natural.

Very detailed illustrations

This is not a particularly new trend, but it is growing in significance. Many websites turn to illustrations to create a mood that evokes a nostalgia for childhood, hand crafted works and a general sense of well-being. They are often gently humourous, with charming details that make you want to keep looking to find all the hidden treasures. Mostly, illustrations make websites feel friendly and accessible, reassuring feelings in an often harried world.

These Are Things are an illustration duo who use sum up their aesthetic and broader philosophy with smiling yet shy avatars of the designers and their contented kitties. Because of this illustration, the whole site is as comforting as sipping on a cup of tea in the sunshine.

Typography

Typography has been used since monks were hand-illustrating letters in the Bible to create drama and tension in a design. The letters cry out for our attention in an otherwise blank space, and our brains desperately want to know what those letters say. After all, if it can grab that much of our attention, it must be important.

In modern times, the impact of typography is largely the same, but the reasons for being drawn to it are slightly different. The internet is still mostly a hub of text, so giant text in a bold type will pop out. Moreover, bold typography can have a big impact on the smallest of devices, a consideration that will only become more important as we begin to access the internet from our fridges and sunglasses.

It is no surprise that a design company would use typography in its own web design. Blake Allen Design just puts big white letters on a black background and lets the sense of drama develop naturally.

Circles

Perhaps oddly, circles have become a major motif in web design. Circles in web design can be illustrations of speedometers, thought bubbles next to employee photos or social media badges, and they are the perfect shape for buttons that are likely to be pushed by a finger on a touch screen. Essentially, though, circles simply stand out in a world of square layouts, lines of text and rectangular images.

Spielzeugmuseum in Ilmenau, Germany, is a toy museum. The circles in its web design are almost like balloons, allowing the information in them to float around next to the airborne dolls. This gives the whole site a sense of levity and a carefree spirit that fits the subject of the museum perfectly.

Photographs as backgrounds

Today, web-accessible devices load pages faster and are able to display more detailed images with clarity. Web designs are replying to this ability to load big images faster by using photographs as backgrounds. This has impact in several ways. First, the viewers are instantly given a striking image to relate to the company. That makes the site more memorable. Second, a photograph creates a unique impression, so the tone of the site and company is established almost immediately. Finally, it links the website to something real and tangible. In these days of virtual friends and cloud computing, the simple quality of existing in the real world is really something special.

Davidia-Int specialises in wood flooring. They illustrate this immediately and with maximum impact with a background that is a giant, gorgeous image of their flooring. Even without Google translating the page, you instantly get the sense of a company that marries natural materials with elegance.

Conclusion

Web design trends will change and expand as technology improves, tastes change and desires shift. Today, most trends want to evoke the past, connect the site to real-world products or simply grab attention in a busy world. What will the trends be in the future? Time will only tell, but one thing is safe to say: they will continue to elicit certain moods, reflect the offerings of the company and maintain our interest, no matter what effects they use.

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